Android is in a tricky spot within China. While the OS is run by practically every smartphone in China that’s not an iPhone, including of course handsets from domestic champions such as Xiaomi, the Chinese government maintains a near state of war against Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Google, with its libertarian ethos, antagonized the Chinese government when it operated in the country by refusing to comply with censorship requests. When Google left China, the Chinese government began traffic shaping its packets before outright blocking Google late last year. Now trying to use Google or things like Gmail or Google Apps is impossible in China without a VPN (and the majority of which no longer work inside the country). The majority of Android platforms used by Chinese vendors are heavily forked. While this presents its own security problems, it’s the best vendors can do to still use Android without relying on Google.

China’s government recognizes the problem and is developing its own indigenous mobile OS as a way to remove the dependence Chinese companies have on Google.

For Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) part, the company says that it will assist China in developing this platform to ensure compatibility with the Intel platform (a must considering the investments Intel is making in Chinese smartphone vendors).

“We have and continue to collaborate on indigenous platforms. We have thousands of software engineers and leadership here in China,” Intel’s Doug Fisher, the company’s Vice President General Manager, Software and Services Group, said at IDF Shenzhen 2015. “We will work with China’s government industries to ensure that we participate in the creation of an indigenous operating environment here in China.”

He said that Intel’s role with the China OS Association, the industry group working with China’s government, will be to “enable” the OS.

It will be interesting to see how close China lets Intel get to the development process of the indigenous OS. On one hand China would need to consult with Intel to ensure compatibility with its platform. On the other hand, China might not want to let Intel get too close to the platform for fear that it would lose face letting a foreign firm in to help with the heavy lifting development work – or worse plant a backdoor.

The post Intel Onboard to Support Indigenous China Mobile OS appeared first on VR World.

“Innovating together, winning together.”

That’s how Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) CEO Brian Krzanich defined the relationship between Intel and China during the kickoff keynote of IDF Shenzhen 2015.

“Since last year, we’ve made a lot of progress together. It’s been a good year full of innovation and full of partnerships and collaborations together,” Krzanich said on stage.

Though interference from the US government may block Intel from parts of the lucrative high-performance computing market in China, on stage Krzanich said that Intel and China maintain a strong relationship and high levels of cooperation.

“The local and global impact of our 50 years of Moore’s Law innovation and 30 years of strong collaboration and winning together in China is unmatched,” said Krzanich. “Intel remains focused on delivering leadership products and technologies in traditional areas of computing, while also investing in new areas and entrepreneurs – students, makers and developers – to find and fuel future generations of innovation with China.”

Krzanich began the keynote by highlighting the how Intel met or beat its goals from last year.

In terms of Intel’s goal to hit 40 million tablets shipped with Intel silicon inside, that goal was met and exceeded as the company announced in January as Intel says it hit not only the 40 million mark, but exceeded initial estimates by hitting 46 million.

With regards to the Smart Device Innovation Fund established last year, Intel said that so far it has been “very successful” with $37 million of the $100 million fund disbursed so far. Many of the companies highlighted by Intel as recipients of the funds are relatively unknown outside of China. Eyesmart technology, Appscomm, were some of the firms highlighted by Intel.

Updates on collaboration with Rockchip

At last year’s IDF Shenzhen, Krzanich gave a first preview of SoFIA its first SoC solution with an embedded 3G baseband. SoFIA was Intel’s plan to get a foothold into the value-oriented Chinese market.

Later in the year Intel announced that it would be collaborating with China’s Rockchip to further develop SoFIA, with Rockchip taking the lead.

Rockchip CEO Min Li

On stage at IDF Shenzhen, Krzanich and Rockchip’s CEO said that they had scored hardware wins from from 20 companies, with more than 45 tablet, phablet and smartphone designs currently in development based on the Intel Atom x3 processor reference designs.

Krzanich then demonstrated the Intel Atom x3 processor in a smartphone, supporting LTE-TDD connectivity over China Mobile’s network by streaming a song from a popular Chinese music streaming service.

A new fund for makers

Following in the footsteps of the Intel Innovation Fund for smartphone and tablet vendors, Intel announced a program to accelerate the development of maker projects powered by Intel’s Galileo and Edison platforms. It’s not clear how these funds will be disbursed, but Intel said it is investing $20 million (120 million RMB) into the project.

Real Sense gets thinner and an enterprise partner

Intel’s RealSense technology has been a favourite staple of the company during its keynotes at events like IDF and Computex. While Intel has secured a handful of wins for its 3D camera, interest from vendors has otherwise been scant. One of the few wins Intel was able to secure for the technology was the Dell Venue 7000, which had many other selling points other than the inclusion of the camera.

At this year’s IDF Shenzhen Intel announced that it had developed a new version of the camera that’s thinner and lighter than the previous version.

Intel also announced that China online mega retailer JD.com would be using Intel RealSense technology in its wharehouses to organize and sort supplies into boxes.

IDF Shenzhen 2015 continues through Wednesday and Thursday in Shenzhen.

The post IDF Shenzhen 2015: Intel Celebrates 30 Years in China at IDF Shenzhen appeared first on VR World.

Do you love Heroes of the Storm as much as we do? Well you’re in luck. In collaboration with Mionix and Blizzard, we’re giving away 50 keys for the Heroes of the Storm beta.

If you’re not familiar with the game, Blizzard describes it as “a raucous online team brawler starring your favorite Blizzard characters. Build and customize heroes from across every Blizzard universe to suit your play style. Team up with your friends and engage in fast-paced mayhem across varied battlegrounds that impact strategy and change the way you play the game.”

So if you’ve ever wanted to pit your favorite characters in the different Blizzard universes against each other, this sounds like the perfect game for you.

Currently Heroes of the Storm is in closed beta with a release expected later this year. So far over 9 million players have signed up for the closed beta.

Using the widget below you can enter to win one of 50 beta keys for the game.  For an extra chance at winning, visit www.mionix.net/HOTS. The contest closes on April 11 and the keys will be distributed then to the lucky winners via email. The contest is only open to those that reside in the EU, as the keys will not work outside of that geographical area.

Heroes of the Storm beta key giveaway

The post Win a Heroes of the Storm Beta Key from VR World and Mionix appeared first on VR World.

The 2015 Shenzhen Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) Developer Forum kicks off Tuesday, the second event Intel is hosting in the city.

Like its San Francisco counterpart, IDF Shenzhen was a very mobile-centric event. At last year’s event, Brian Krzanich, the company’s CEO, made some very aggressive promises.

But one year later, where is Intel on these promises?

40 Million Intel Tablets in 2014

Without a doubt the most aggressive promise Intel made at IDF Shenzhen 2014 was shipping 40 million Intel powered tablets in 2014.

The tablet SoC market is dominated by ARM’s (LON: ARM) silicon. To grow that much in one year would be a herculean task for any company, and many analysts thought it would be an impossible task. But in January 2015 Intel announced that it had met, and even beaten, its goal: 46 million.

But to get to that goal Intel paid a handsome cost that would be impossible for any of its competitors even consider undertaking. In its yearly earnings call in January Intel said that is mobile and communications division posted a loss of $4.21 billion for the 2014 fiscal year. Income for the division for the year was razor thin, only coming in at $202 million.

However for Intel this was total war. Posting this kind of loss was an acceptable cost for achieving victory.

This goal was intended to establish Intel Architecture in the marketplace,” Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said during the company’s earnings call. “We don’t need to go out and outpace the market for this year,” he continued. “A key goal for mobility is to improve profitability.”

This strategy pushed Intel’s x86 competitor out of the market entirely. Although AMD never really was a contender in the tablet space, the company decided to concede the market entirely once it realized the lengths Intel was willing to go to achieve dominance in the market.

“We’re evaluating [tablets] closely. It’s not our priority,” Kevin Lensing, senior director for mobility solutions at AMD, said in a November interview. Lensing explained that the margins just were not there for AMD to justify its attempts at entering the market, on top of Intel’s aggressive behavior.

Now that Intel has hit its goal, the question is: can it make a profit?

Intel’s $100 Million China Bet

The other big announcement from Intel at IDF Shenzhen 2014 was the establishment of a $100 million “China Smart Device Innovation Fund” and innovation center to help Chinese vendors jumpstart their mobile ambitions with Intel cash and know-how.

Tracking the deliverables surrounding this promise has been a bit tricky, as Intel’s bigger China-themed announcements this year such as the $1.5 billion investment in Tsinghua Unigroup have pushed it to the sidelines.

To date Intel has disbursed $28 million from the $100 million pot. The list of companies that have received the funds, and what projects they have used them for, has not been widely publicized.

It’s also understood that the company’s innovation center is not going as planned. Sources said Kirk Skaugen’s platform development center in Shenzhen was supposed to have 600 engineers, and to date it’s understood that there are only 150. In addition key high-level R&D personnel have returned to the United States.

What’s in store for this year?

This year’s IDF event is a much shorter affair than last year. With Intel no longer as hungry for market wins as it was last year, it’s doubtful that it will be as high profile as the year prior.

The conference’s first keynote kicks off Wednesday morning.

The post IDF Shenzhen 2015: Did Intel Keep Its Promises From Last Year? appeared first on VR World.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is no stranger to the press. He’s appeared in dozens of interviews with major media outlets as well as an Oscar nominated documentary called Citizen Four.

But HBO funnyman John Oliver provided what is no doubt the toughest interview yet for Snowden. Granted there was plenty of light banter, such as if the NSA can intercept your “dick picks”, but there were a number of sharp, pointed questions on whether Snowden’s mass disclosure of documents was well-warranted whistleblowing or reckless behavior.

John Oliver – Edward Snowden interview

“How many of those documents have you actually read?” Oliver asked.

“I’ve evaluated all the documents that are in the archive,” Snowden responded.

Pressed he elaborated further: “I do understand what I turned over.”

But for Oliver that wasn’t good enough.

“There’s a difference between understanding what’s in the documents and reading what’s in the documents. Because when you’re handing over thousands of NSA documents the last thing you’d want to do is read them,” Oliver said. “So The New York Times took a slide, didn’t redact it properly, and in the end it was possible for people to see that something was being used in Mosul on al Qaeda.”

“That is a problem,” Snowden replied.

“Well, that’s a fuckup,” said Oliver.

The interview is hard hitting and well worth the watch. Check it out in the video embedded above.

The post John Oliver Grills Edward Snowden on ‘Last Week Tonight’ appeared first on VR World.

Without a doubt the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) of today is very much a different firm than the Microsoft of 40, or even 20, years ago. While the company’s flagship Windows business is going nowhere fast, in the last decade new divisions within Microsoft have seen rapid growth as the demands of the market shift.

It wouldn’t be a huge stretch to imagine that the Microsoft in 40 years would be a very different company than the Microsoft of today. The way we interact with computers is changing; the HoloLens might be the new paradigm for the computing input of the future much like how the mouse and touchscreen were the disruptive forces of the past.

As Microsoft celebrated its 40th anniversary on Saturday, its founder, former CEO, and now technology adviser Bill Gates sent out a memo to the company’s 100,00 employees letting them know where the company is headed. Naturally the email got leaked, and it’s a worthwhile read. Check it out in its entirety below:

Tomorrow is a special day: Microsoft’s 40th anniversary.

Early on, Paul Allen and I set the goal of a computer on every desk and in every home. It was a bold idea and a lot of people thought we were out of our minds to imagine it was possible. It is amazing to think about how far computing has come since then, and we can all be proud of the role Microsoft played in that revolution.

Today though, I am thinking much more about Microsoft’s future than its past. I believe computing will evolve faster in the next 10 years than it ever has before. We already live in a multi-platform world, and computing will become even more pervasive. We are nearing the point where computers and robots will be able to see, move, and interact naturally, unlocking many new applications and empowering people even more.

Under Satya’s leadership, Microsoft is better positioned than ever to lead these advances. We have the resources and drive to solve tough problems. We are engaged in every facet of modern computing and have the deepest commitment to research in the industry. In my role as technical advisor to Satya, I get to join product reviews and am impressed by the vision and talent I see. The result is evident in products like Cortana, Skype Translator, and HoloLens — and those are just a few of the many innovations that are on the way.

In the coming years, Microsoft has the opportunity to reach even more people and organizations around the world. Technology is still out of reach for many people, because it is complex or expensive, or they simply do not have access. So I hope you will think about what you can do to make the power of technology accessible to everyone, to connect people to each other, and make personal computing available everywhere even as the very notion of what a PC delivers makes its way into all devices.

We have accomplished a lot together during our first 40 years and empowered countless businesses and people to realize their full potential. But what matters most now is what we do next. Thank you for helping make Microsoft a fantastic company now and for decades to come.

What the Microsoft — or even computing — of 40 years in the future looks like is anyone’s guess. But with Microsoft’s enormous R&D budgets and the exceptional innovation it has shown in the last few years, its future will no doubt be exciting.

The post Read Bill Gates’ Memo to Microsoft’s Employees On its 40th Anniversary appeared first on VR World.

The end of the revenge porn phenomenon may be soon upon us, as a San Diego court recently sentenced revenge porn site operator Kevin Bollaert to 18 years in jail and a $10,000 fine. He was charged with identity theft and extortion for his role in revenge porn site ugotposted.com.

Bollaert was the operator of ugotposted.com, a site that encouraged jilted ex-lovers to post nude pictures of their former partner along with personal details such as name, address, and date of birth. Victims had to pay $300 to $350 to have the images removed. According to reports, Bollaert earned upwards of $30,000 from the removal fees.

“Sitting behind a computer, committing what is essentially a cowardly and criminal act, will not shield predators from the law or jail,” state Attorney General Kamala Harris told San Diego’s CBS8. “We will continue to be vigilant and investigate and prosecute those who commit these deplorable acts.”

While Bollaert isn’t the first revenge porn site operator to land in prison, he’s the first to be charged for his role in operating such a site. Hunter Moore, who ran the site Is Anyone Up? until 2012, was indicted in early 2014 for conspiracy, identity theft, and unauthorized access to a computer. Moore was paying a hacker by the name of Charles Evans to hack into email accounts of victims and extract nude pictures.

This looks like the beginning of the end of the revenge porn industry. Now that a precedent has been established in court to hand revenge porn site operators lengthy jail sentences, law enforcement and prosecutors should have no problem clearing out the rest of them. But, perhaps, some will take the initiative to shut down their sites first after seeing that their actions can have serious consequences.

The post Revenge Porn Site Operator Gets Jail Time appeared first on VR World.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may be facing a snag in launching its smartwatch in the birthplace of luxury watches due to a patent issue.

According to reports by Swiss broadcaster RTS and business publication Business Montres, local watch company Leonard Timepieces owns a trademark that gives it the exclusive right to use the word “Apple” and any imagery of an Apple in the watch and timepiece market.

The patent was filed in 1985 and expires on December 5, 2015. Switzerland isn’t a targeted market in the first tier of country launches, but no doubt Apple will want to launch its smartwatch there soon as it’s a high-income economy with a taste for luxury goods.

Neither Apple nor Leonard Timepieces is talking to the press about the issue. It’s unclear whether Apple will wait until the patent has lapsed, or will choose to launch the watch anyways and either move to reach a settlement with Leonard or just fight the company in court.

This isn’t the first time Apple has encountered a naming snafu when trying to launch a product. Shortly before Apple launched the first iPhone in 2007, it discovered that Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) already had rights to the name as it had used it for a line of VOIP desktop phones in the 1990s. While Cisco had the legal rights to the name Apple wanted it — badly — and used some fairly aggressive tactics to make it its own.

According to an excerpt of the book Inside Apple reprinted by the blog Cult of Mac Steve Jobs fought Cisco hard to get the rights to use the name. In the end Jobs reached a deal with Cisco’s Charles Giancarlo, an executive, which amazingly didn’t involve and monetary compensation for Cisco. Only a promise to cooperate in areas of “mutual interest”.

Giancarlo fielded a call directly from Steve Jobs. “Steve called in and said that he wanted it,” Giancarlo recalled. “He didn’t offer us anything for it. It was just like a promise he’d be our best friend. And we said, ‘No, we’re planning on using it.’ ” Shortly after that, Apple’s legal department called to say they thought Cisco had “abandoned the brand,” meaning that in Apple’s legal opinion Cisco hadn’t adequately defended its intellectual property rights by promoting the name. To Apple’s way of thinking this meant the name iPhone was available for Apple’s use. Giancarlo, who subsequently joined the prominent Silicon Valley private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, said Cisco threatened litigation before the launch. Then, the day after Apple announced its iPhone, Cisco filed suit.

The negotiation displayed some classic Steve Jobs negotiating tactics. Giancarlo said Jobs called him at home at dinnertime on Valentine’s Day, as the two sides were haggling. Jobs talked for a while, Giancarlo related. “And then he said to me, ‘Can you get email at home?’ ” Giancarlo was taken aback. This was 2007, after all, when broadband Internet was ubiquitous in homes in the US, let alone that of a Silicon Valley executive who had worked for years on advanced Internet technology. “And he’s asking me if I’m able to get email at home. You know he’s just trying to press my buttons—in the nicest possible way.” Cisco gave up the fight shortly after that. The two sides reached a vague agreement to cooperate on areas of mutual interest.

It’s not known if Apple will use the same negotiating tactics with Leonard Timepieces. It may be that Apple has a better case of the company abandoning the trademark than it did with Cisco, but this same tactic could backfire in a foreign court.

The Apple Watch goes on sale in nine countries around the world on April 24. Pricing starts at $349 and climbs to $17,000 for the luxury edition made of 18-karat gold.

The post Patent Woes May Delay Apple Watch Launch in Switzerland appeared first on VR World.

As promised, Rockstar today released a trailer for the PC version of GTA V.

For those eagerly awaiting the game’s release — which will be in two weeks time on April 14 — this trailer is a real treat. It shows a world that’s alive at 60 fps and at 4K resolution.

GTA V PC trailer

GTA V was first released for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013. In November 2014 it was released for the Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Across all systems the game has sold a total of 45 million copies.

GTA V was originally due out for PC in the fall of 2014 but was delayed to March and then April. Rockstar said that it needed extra time to further optimize the game for the PC. Given that the average high-end gaming PC is miles ahead of the Playstation 4 or Xbox One in processing power, GTA V should be a much more immersive experience on the PC than on consoles. The added processing power allows for things such as increased draw distances and more crowded environments.

Rockstar recommends that you have a 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5 3470 / AMD X8 FX-8350 CPU and a Nvidia GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD7870 2GB to play the game in all its glory.

The post Check out GTA V in Glorious 4K at 60 FPS appeared first on VR World.

It’s not uncommon for big AAA games to have enormous budgets that are often bigger than blockbuster movies. Consider the budgets for Destiny, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Grand Theft Auto V. Respectively these games have budgets of $500 million, $275 million and $268 million.

With budgets like this these games have to be big hits that appeal to mass audiences. They need to be flashy, action-packed adventures that appeal to anyone. In essence, they need to be the summer blockbuster material.

But games like this do not appeal to everyone. Just as some have tired of the endless supply of Marvel Comics movies that dominate summer release schedules, many want games that appeal that take risks with both the narrative and gameplay. Convincing a big studio to take a risk and fund a game like this isn’t the easiest of tasks — impossible if you don’t already have the right connections — which has given rise to the Kickstarter gaming economy.

Rise of the indies

The perception that big studios are drowning out creativity and leaving the industry with a creative deficit has led to a strong Kickstarter-backed gaming community pushing out indie games. These are games that aren’t pushing to have the cutting-edge graphics, or multi-platform releases. These are games that push the envelope of narrative and interaction creativity.

“Working in independent games right now, it feels like there’s infinite potential in any direction,” indie game designer Robin Arnott is quoted as saying in the trailer to new video game documentary GameLoading: Rise of the Indies.

Kickstarter developers are not constrained by the need for their projects to become massive commercial successes. While some games utilize cutting-edge engines such as the Unreal Engine 4 or the CryTek engine (made possible by the indie-friendly license fees both have), others take a step back and incorporate retro-style 8-bit graphics.

Big studios taking notice

The rise of indie gaming has not gone unnoticed by big game studios. While initially some indie developers were ‘refugees’ from creativity-starved studios, now studios are developing publishing brands to give indies a wider release. In many ways this is like how major studios such as Fox (NASDAQ: FOX) have developed spin-off brands for indie films like Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Consider the case of Valiant Hearts, a 2D-side scroller set in the trenches of the First World War with a strong anti-war message. Neither the First World War nor side scrollers are very marketable when compared to Call of Duty style first-person shooters, but the game’s developers, who work at Ubisoft (EPA: UBI), got the publishing giant to greenlight the game and release it earlier this year.

Yoan Fanise, the game’s Content Director, explained to Kotaku, explained he got the game approved by Ubisoft’s CEO after a successful pitch meeting.

“Our luck was that Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft himself, was emotionally touched by the story. He was a constant support for us,” Fanise explained to Kotaku. “The First World War itself is not a theme with a very wide appeal. It’s even less appealing in 2D, and even less again with no gun in your hands, so we had to constantly be knocking on doors to even exist alongside Ubisoft’s blockbusters.”

Fansie believes that eventually the game industry will evolve to incorporate more challenging, indie title as gamers’ tastes mature.

“The movie industry has the exact same problem, but is more mature and is often willing to take bigger risks. I think it’s time for our industry to grew up and be less scary about original ideas, or trying new things,” he explained.

The future of the industry

While examples like Valiant Hearts show that big studios are taking note of the rise of indie games, in many ways the indie game industry is fine without them. It used to be that big publishers played a key role in game development: you needed access to their capital to develop the game, and without their distribution network you couldn’t get your product to customers.

But Kickstarter and digital distribution platforms such as Steam have changed that; they have democratized the industry and leveled the playing field so that merit — not connections — matter when getting an idea for an indie game off the ground.

There will always be cases such a Valiant Hearts where a big studio steps in, but there are too many cases of successful game developers doing just fine without them to say that big studios play a pivotal role in the future of indie gaming. Now, it’s all about artists and developers.

The post The Rise and Rise of Kickstarter Indie Games appeared first on VR World.

The last hours of April Fools’ Day are ticking away in the US.

As is tradition many tech companies ran elaborate April Fools’ Day pranks, with plausible or downright ridiculous gags.

Here’s a round-up of the top 10 April Fools’ Day pranks we found on the web.

Nvidia acquires Valve, Half-Life 3 confirmed

Any news involving Half-Life 3 is a surefire way to get clicks. Gamers around the world are eagerly awaiting more news on how Gordon Freeman’s journey will continue, as it’s been over a decade since Half-Life 2 was released. Since then we’ve only had three episodic mini-games, but they are nowhere near as satisfying as a real Half-Life adventure.

Our friends at TweakTown decided to have some laugh on April 1, and published a piece claiming that Valve had been acquired by Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Half-Life 3 had been scheduled for a 2016 release. Very funny.

A Steam Box. With Steam

We’ve heard a lot about Valve’s Steam Machine, which promises to create a console-like experience for PC gamers.

But what about a PC box, powered by steam?

That’s a new product that ThinkGeek was advertising on April 1. Given that some gamers are looking to save on their power bills, bhit might be the perfect solution.

Samsung Galaxy Blade Edge

While Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) has a product strategy of focusing on a few key products, its rival Samsung (KRX: 005930) has a strategy of flooding the market with products. For every iPhone, there’s seemingly three or four Galaxy smartphones.

Samsung announced on April 1 that it was expanding the Galaxy line into the kitchen. Not with an appliance like a toaster or fridge, but rather with a knife.

MS-DOS for mobile

Everyone knows that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) needs all the help it can get when it comes to mobile platforms.

Maybe the mobile revolution Microsoft needs is a new operating system? We all know that consumers aren’t that interested in Windows 8 on mobile. Or, perhaps, what about re-branding an old, stoic operating system for modern mobile platforms?

Presenting MS-DOS Mobile.

While this is a joke, you can actually download the app from Microsoft’s Windows mobile app store. Check it out.

Selfie sticks for pets

Selfie sticks are all the rage these days. They are so popular that some tourist attractions and museums have outrighted banned them.

But what about a selfie stick for pets?

Instead of using a bluetooth powered button, these selfie sticks are activated by a bark or a meow.

The post 2015: Top Five April Fools’ Day Pranks on the Web appeared first on VR World.

Two United States Navy F-18s made an emergency landing in Tainan, a city in south Taiwan, Wednesday afternoon after declaring an in-flight emergency due to a mechanical issue.

The two aircraft transmitted a 7700 “squawk” code which is recognized by the International Civil Aviation Organization as meaning general emergency. The two aircraft landed safely at Tainan Air Force Base shortly after 1:00 pm.

An American diplomatic official is quoted by local media as saying the two aircraft were on a “routine” flight when they encountered a mechanical emergency and required to land. The official thanked Taiwan for its assistance in getting the planes safely to the ground.

As Taiwan’s Air Force does not have F-18s in its fleet, the aircraft and pilots will remain in Taiwan until technicians and spare parts can be sent in from the closest US base in Okinawa, Japan.

A sensitive landing

Landing two US military aircraft in Taiwan has the potential to create further complications due to the island’s unique relationship with China and most of the world.

Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, does not have formal diplomatic relations with most countries. Following the Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Republic of China’s ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party retreated from China to Taiwan in 1949. That same year, Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China. Until the late 1970s most of the world considered the Republic of China (Taiwan) to be “China”. In 1979 that recognition shifted to China, with China taking the ROC’s former seat at the UN and the US and most countries of the world opening up full diplomatic relations.

Relations between most countries and Taiwan are conducted through non-official “Trade Institutes” that act as de-facto embassies without the official title.

To this day Taiwan and China see each other as the legitimate “China”, with the other being considered a rogue province. Relations between the two improved in 1992, when both ROC and PRC officials met to sign the 1992 Consensus which states that both sides agree there is “One China” but that definition is subject to interpretation. In 2005 the two sides agreed to have daily cross-strait flights.

While the United States does not have official relations with Taiwan, it provides defensive weapons to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act. The act does state that the US will come to the defense of Taiwan should the PRC attack it, provided that Taiwan does not declare independence first. While the US does not provide top-tier weapons to Taiwan for fear of angering China, it has provided the nation (under protest from China) with F-16s, Black Hawk helicopters, and Apache attack helicopters amongst other kit.

A ‘routine’ flight?

While diplomatic officials in Taiwan maintain that the flight was “routine”, it was likely anything but.

The area the jets flew through is heavily contested, and to get there they no doubt had to traverse through Chinese Air Defense Identification Zones.

In the last few years China has taken an aggressive posturing in the South China Sea, to the protest of neighbouring states. Many states in the area, such as the Philippines, have expressed concern about China’s expansion in the area. China has recently been carrying out military drills in the South China Sea’s Bashi Channel, near Philippines’ territorial waters, which is notable because of the distance from China’s coastlines.

It is likely that the US jets were in the region to shadow or monitor the drill to symbolize to China that the US has interests in the area as well. The emergency landing in Taiwan was no doubt noticed by China — but perhaps that was the point.

The post US F-18s Make Emergency Landing in Taiwan appeared first on VR World.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) unveiled Tuesday two new low-cost Chromebooks that will make the Google laptop platform much more competitive against the low-end Windows laptop space.

The two Chromebooks are from Hisense (SHA:600060) and Haier (HKG:1169),two China-based OEM/ODMs known best for providing budget electronics to specific retailers. Both Chromebooks are priced at $149 and are powered by the quad-core Rockchip RK3288 SoC clocked at 1.8GHz.

Each laptop is virtually identical with 11.6-inch LED-backlit display, 2GB of DDR3L SDRAM, 16GB of eMMC flash storage, and a 720p webcam. The only difference between the two is battery life.

First up is the Hisense Chromebook, which will be exclusively sold at Walmart (NYSE: WMT). It promises 8.5 hours of battery life. It’s 0.6 inches thick and weighs 3.3 pounds.

The Haier Chromebook 11, an exclusive to Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), has 10 hours of promised battery life.

What’s in a Rockchip?

Rockchip is probably best known for its deal with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) to bring x86 to the next-generation of cheap tablets for the Chinese market.

Aside from that Rockchip is a fairly run-of-the-mill low-end ARM (LON: ARM) manufacturer that would one day like to challenge the incumbents such as Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and MediaTek (TPE: 2454).

The Rockchip RK3288 has four 1.8 GHz ARM Cortex A17 cores and a quad-core ARM Mali T760 GPU.

Benchmarks on the RK3288 are scant, but one from January from a firm called CNX Software shows that its around 18% faster in Antutu than an Intel Atom Z3735F.

Chromebook on a stick

The other Rockchip RK3288 powered Chrome device is the Chromebit, and HDMI dongle that brings full Chromebox (a set-top Chrome computer) to a dongle. It’s powered by a Rockchip 3288 SoC, has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and 802.11ac connectivity.

One obvious use case for the Chromebit is presentations. Instead of trying to get one’s laptop connected to the venue’s projector, someone could just plug in the Chromebit into the projector’s HDMI port.

Pricing of the Chromebit will be less than $100.

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The third generation of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Surface 3 tablet, unveiled today by the company, may be its best as the slate finally ships with a full version of Windows.

Instead of shipping with a Windows RT like its predecessors, the Surface 3 ships with Windows 8.1. The base model of the Surface 3 is powered by an Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) Atom x7 processor, 2 GB of RAM, a front-facing 3.5-megapixel camera, a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, and a micro USB charger. Microsoft says that the battery will last 10 hours under normal conditions.

“Surface 3 brings what customers love about Surface Pro 3 to more people, delivering the premium design and productivity of Surface in a more affordable device,” Panos Panay, corporate vice president of Microsoft Surface, said in a blog post. “We’ve taken everything we learned making Surface Pro 3 and poured that innovation into this newest Surface.

The Surface 3 will also have a free upgrade to Windows 10 when it becomes available.

Each Surface 3 will come with a one year subscription to Office 365 Personal, which includes full versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote as well as 1 TB of OneDrive storage.

The Surface 3 is available for pre-order today via the Microsoft store and select Microsoft retail outlets. The tablet will ship on May 7.

Pricing for the Surface 3 starts at $499 with the LTE version costing $100 more.

Microsoft finally gets it right

Microsoft’s first Surface tablet was an unmitigated disaster. Microsoft ended up taking a $900 million writedown on the first tablet, as it couldn’t convince consumers to purchase them. Consumers were skeptical of the device, as Windows RT wasn’t compatible with most regular Windows apps. In addition, Windows on tablets wasn’t just as competitive as Android and iOS. It lacked the intuitive interface both of the other platforms have.

Progressively the Surface tablets have been getting better. The Surface 2 righted many of the wrongs of the first Surface, and the third Surface looks as if it will continue this trend.

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The wearables market launched to a rocky start, but IDC sees nothing but growth over the next few years.

According to a recent report by IDC, a combination of new vendors, new devices, and greater awareness among potential consumers will lead to year-over-year growth that leads to 126 million of the devices shipped by 2019. IDC forecasts that the wearables market will see 45.7 million unit shipments in 2015, up from the 133.4% from the 19.6 million units shipped in 2014. Until 2019, IDC believes that every year the market will have a year-over-year growth rate of 45%.

“Smart wearables are about to take a major step forward with the launch of the Apple Watch this year,” said Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC’s Wearables team. “The Apple Watch raises the profile of wearables in general and there are many vendors and devices that are eager to share the spotlight. Basic wearables, meanwhile, will not disappear. In fact, we anticipate continued growth here as many segments of the market seek out simple, single-use wearable devices.”

What’s causing the growth?

The obvious reason why the market is poised for growth is the 900-pound gorilla known as the Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) Watch. When the Apple Watch launches many competing vendors will no doubt use its launch and first year on the market as a case study to adjust their own strategies accordingly.

There’s also the issue of the overall quality of the wearable market. When wearables first entered the mainstream public consciousness they were heavily fitness oriented. This appealed to a niche market, but to the not-so fitness inclined they were a questionable investment. Then the first smartwatch, Samsung’s (KRX: 005930) Galaxy Gear, came on the market to a chilly reception and ultimately had a sky-high return rate.

In a contrast, a maturing market shows that there’s nothing but demand for wearables. This is because the overall quality of device has improved, and consumers have taken note and responded positively. IDC’s numbers are realistic and definitely attainable if vendors keep building quality devices.

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Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is confident that one day it will offer a delivery service by air even if its has to convince hostile regulators and a skeptical otherwise. In order to prove that its Prime Air service will one day be possible, Amazon is currently testing its courier drones in a British Columbia, Canada border town to eventually demonstrate to US authorities that the technology is viable.

According to a Guardian feature on the test site, Amazon engineers are conducting experiments with the drones to make sure that they can operate safely and autonomously. Amazon proposes that these drones operate between 200-500 feet and carry packages up to 5 lbs. The drones will have collision avoidance features, and will be able to operate without a direct link to its base. These critical features need to have every bug ironed out before Amazon appeals to the FAA to get the green light to fly.

“We think that this new technology will provide huge benefits for our customers, who we think will love it, and for society more broadly,” Amazon’s Paul Misener, the company’s vice-president for global public policy, told the Guardian. “Why would we wait?”

Safety first for Amazon Prime Air

While the FAA should have granted Amazon a license to perform testing in isolated, rural areas its concerns about the safety of wide scale drone delivery are valid. There are simply too many things that could go wrong to have the skies above a major city filled with autonomous drones. Each drone would have to have redundant mechanical and software systems to ensure that an engine failure or software malfunction doesn’t mean that it would drop from the sky.

Range anxiety

There is also the problem of range. A high-end consumer drone, such as the DJI Phantom, only lasts for 25 minutes in the sky with its 5200 mAh battery. Given current battery technology that’s affordable, drone manufacturers have a dilemma: batteries with a higher milliampere-hour and voltage to let the drone fly faster and longer are heavier, which require more energy to get off the ground. Bearing big jumps in battery or engine efficiency, don’t expect drones to go much further than this on one charge.

In many US cities, famous for their urban sprawl, 25 minutes is simply not enough for a return trip. In order for this to be viable, Amazon would have to build small warehouses throughout the cities and use predictive algorithms to stock them accordingly.

All this considered, wouldn’t it be more efficient to just deliver product by truck?

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Gogoro, the Taiwan-based electric scooter startup that counts HTC’s (TPE: 2498) Cher Wang as investor, has generated a lot of buzz since its unveiling at CES in January. Now those interested in buying one of Gogoro’s electric scooters will have the chance to demo one at a retail experience zone opening up later this week in Taipei’s Xinyi shopping district.

Gogoro is targeting a summer launch in Metro Taipei, which consists of Taipei and New Taipei City. Gogoro’s scooters differ from traditional electric scooters: you can’t plug them in. Instead, riders take the scooters to a battery swapping center when they need a fresh battery. Gogoro owners need to subscribe to a monthly plan, and the company promises that there will be dozens of stations around the city and each station is said to be roughly the size of an ATM.

Battery swapping plans for electric vehicles are in many ways the ultimate cure for range anxiety, but they have been met with challenges due to the complexity of replacing a battery in most electric vehicles. However, this isn’t the case with Gogoro as the 20-pound battery can be replaced in a matter of seconds.

To ensure that its scooters arrive bug-free, Gogoro is launching a pilot program in April. 100 riders will be given the chance to try out the scooters over the course of two months. The company is hoping that the beta testers will log 100,000 collective hours during the pilot program.

Pricing has yet to be announced.

The problem with electric scooters

The Metro Taipei area has the highest density of scooters in the world, and scooters are the biggest single contributor to air pollution in the city.

But as VR World reported in February a combination of bad public policy and misplaced subsidy programs have stopped the hindered the adoption rate of the electric two-wheeled vehicles.

But all of this can change with Gogoro. While the Taiwanese government might have failed to put in place proper subsidy programs to encourage adoption, the local Taipei city government might fill this vacuum and do it instead. But if Gogoro can launch this scooter at a competitive price, and convince consumer that its battery swapping network is solid, it might not need the help of the government in the first place.  

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Uber has been no friend of authorities since its launch. The ride-sharing company has always billed itself as a technology or information company, not a Taxi firm, in order to bypass regulations regarding commercial driver licensing. But according to a report from German language publication Wirtschafts Woche, this will soon be changing.

According to the report, Uber will be providing its drivers in Europe with commercial driver licenses and will be going through the proper steps to license itself as a taxi and chauffeur service.

“We will also pay the €150 to €200 it would cost our partners to have the Chamber of Commerce license them as taxi companies,” Fabien Nestmann, Uber’s chief in Germany is quoted as saying.

It’s not clear if the costs will be passed on to riders.

Uber’s new strategy

For a company of its valuation (which is said to be near $40 billion), Uber’s compliance with local laws regarding taxis and chauffeur services is practically non-existent. One would be hard-pressed to find a company of similar, or any size, that takes the same approach with regulators.  Uber’s libertarian approach to ride sharing and taxi services has its fans, but will ultimately fall on deaf ears with authorities. Though the law may be imperfect, Uber needs to comply with it — it can then lobby lawmakers to perfect it.

No doubt Uber is under pressure from its investors to become compliant with local laws. Investors don’t want to see their $40 billion company become outlawed in major markets around the world, and Uber’s lack of compliance is hindering it from raising its next $40 billion.

While the company will ultimately lose face given its disruptive nature, throughout the year it’s expected that it will take steps to be compliant in the markets where it operates around the world. Uber drivers — the little guys — are the ones that are under the most pressure. They are the ones given the tickets for operating an unlawful taxi service. If Uber wants to keep its personnel and hire new ones it will have to take steps to work with authorities to become compliant.

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It appears that Taiwan’s HTC (TPE: 2498) is going through something of a transition.

Last week the company announced that its’ CEO Peter Chou had stepped down to lead the company’s innovation lab, being replaced by founder Cheryl Wang. On Friday in Taipei the company announced that HTC’s design chief Jonah Becker was departing the company.

“We can confirm that Jonah Becker has left HTC; he had been with the Company since HTC acquired One & Co over six years ago,” a statement from the company read. “We would like to thank Jonah for his work with HTC, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. He has been succeeded by Daniel Hundt, based in our San Francisco design office.”

This announcement comes just under a year after the Scott Croyle, who held the position of design chief for quite some time, was moving on.

It’s been an amazing seventeen year journey with One & Co and HTC, but it’s time for a new adventure. Stay tuned for details of what’s next.

— Jonah Becker (@JonahABecker) March 26, 2015

Why the departure?

There is no clear reason Becker  chose to depart the company at this time. While HTC’s new One M9 was criticized for its boring design, the company had a series of design wins with its Periscope and VR headset revealed at the 2015 Mobile World Congress.

It could be that the company’s new CEO would like a clean slate as she hopes to reboot the company. With any large firm there are more political alliances than Frank Underwood could deal with and a successful corporate reboot might mean installing new faces.

If HTC wants to properly compete, it needs a new, fresh and compelling design language. Perhaps CEO Wang thinks the only way to effectively do this is through a new team.

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While 4K certainly has its uses and benefits on larger displays, the potential use cases on such a small smartphone screen are negligible at best. On an average smartphone screen, which is usually around 5.5-6 inches, the resolution of QHD — let alone 4K — is too great for the eye to appreciate. Apple’s Retina display has a pixel-per inch density of 326. A QHD display on a smartphone would equal something in the range of 538.

A PPI of 538 is far beyond the maximum resolution that the human eye can recognize. There is a bit of controversy as to what the highest practical PPI is for a 5.5 inch screen held 12-18 inches away from the eye, but the consensus holds that it’s 477 PPI at 12 inches and 318 PPI at 18 inches. Of course, holding it closer than 12 inches away from your face would make it difficult to properly focus.

So this means that the iPhone’s Retina resolution introduced in 2010 is the highest practical resolution for a smartphone sized screen. Of course with bigger screens found on phablets and full-on tablets this figure jumps.

QHD and 4K smartphones are impractical

The other issue with QHD and 4K displays on smartphones is the substantial battery drain that comes as a result. Battery technology has reached a ceiling, yet the demands keep on increasing. A QHD or 4K screen requires substantially more push from the SoC to drive a screen of that resolution, which means the SoC will require more battery power for all tasks.

Before the 2015 Mobile World Congress kicked off, Huawei (SHE:002502) announced that it would not be producing 4K smartphones because it simply is not worth the battery drain.

“4K needs a lot of power, so if you use it you have to make compromises. A 4K display on a smartphone may give you half a day of battery life but a 2K display can give you maybe one day or more,” President of the Handset Product Line Kevin Ho is quoted as saying. “4K has four times the pixels of Full HD so the power consumption is maybe 4 or 8 times as much as Full HD so the smartphone has to have compromises with battery life.”

All about competition

Pushing up the resolution of smartphone displays  is not the only way to improve the quality of the screen. There’s much to be done to improve color depth, backlight quality, and the ability for the screen to display in bright conditions.

But the resolution race is a way for vendors to compete with each other. The screen resolution of a device is an easy and digestible metric to understand. But for consumers this resolution race isn’t, in the end, a value add as it does little to increase productivity or performance.   

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